Made 4 Gwladys wrote:WTF is going on with J5 ... he was total dogshit on Saturday...

He needs to pull his finger out or fuck off... I'd rather see Duffy in the team.. assuming that this new kid is not 1st team material yet.

J5 should be restricted to (w)anchor duties until he wakes up.... Jags & Dizzy in the middle please.

Don't think Duffy is anywhere ready yet. Needs to go out on loan.

Agree 100%. No point in a knee jerk reaction. J5 has been under par for a while now. Presume Pip will come in at RB and Distin and Jags at CB. I am most concerned at how Oldham are going to hoof us out of the cup with the long ball.

J5 has had a lot of stick letely, probably justifiably .... but he was very good against Citeh... maybe knowing that he is first choice with Dizzy while Jags is out will be the making of his return to the form that made him player of the season last term ??

Roberto Martinez is convinced he can rely on John Heitinga despite the Dutch international being unhappy at his Everton predicament.

The Blues boss has praised the attitude of the out-of-favour 29-year-old – and will have no qualms about asking him to step into the breach tomorrow if Sylvain Distin fails to recover from an ankle knock.

First choice centre-half Distin is a doubt for the opening home game of the season after picking up the problem at Norwich, and Martinez believes Heitinga is a strong stand-by option if the Frenchman does not recover in time.

He said: “Of course it’s hard to keep John happy. The moment you’ve got a player who is happy not playing then you really do have a problem.

“John has been fantastic with his work and the way he’s been fighting for his place. He brings something completely different to the squad and I’m glad he’s here working the way he does.

“He is vastly experienced and comes from a background which I really love, that is the Dutch way of playing. I see Johnny as somebody who can play a couple of different roles.

“He’s always a big influence, whether he’s playing games or not Johnny is a good influence on the standards daily here and our youngsters can pick up a lot from him.

“From my point of view it’s been a real joy to work with Johnny.”

Heitinga admitted in May that his future on Merseyside remained in doubt after losing his place last season, and hinted that the club could look to cash in on him.

But Martinez is grateful he has the mix of experience and youthful promise in reserve provided by Heitinga and 19-year-old John Stones – who could also be an outsider to potentially replace Distin against West Brom tomorrow.

“John Heitinga gives you a different prospect than John Stones,” he added. “John is a young man with a very bright future ahead of him but they are very different players. It will be about seeing what we need on the day and how the players train.”

Not sure what the transfer fee will be as he only has 6 months to run on his contract.

Good riddance IMO.

If there's intererst from WHU as well, then maybe we'll get more than a bag of dog biscuits for him.£1M seems about tops, but maybe on big wages?We've got cover everywhere across the back line even without him.